Warning: file_get_contents(http://webbiscuits.net/images/blan.gif) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
in /home/residenc/public_html/wp-content/themes/residencynotes/header.php on line 26

One of the problems with the College Cost Reduction Act is that it killed the 20/220 plan in 2008 and didn’t install it’s successor (however inadequate that successor is) until 2009. There was a year where residents had not protections. Well, no more. Due in part to the AMA’s advocacy efforts, the Department of Education has extended the 20/220 rule to 2009. From an email I got,

Following our AMA’s advocacy efforts by staff and the tremendous efforts by our medical student and resident/fellow sections, the 20/220 pathway will continue through at least fall 2008.

The final rule, published today by the Department of Education, keeps the 20/220 pathway intact. Through this rule, the Department of Education specifically revised sections of Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations in a manner which does not alter the language regarding the 20/220 pathway, but incorporates some of the other changes issued in the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. Thus, the current 20/220 pathway to economic hardship deferment remains in place, until a negotiated rule-making process can occur which will not be completed until fall of 2008.